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Skynet
Skynet is an American metalcore band from Washington, DC. Formed in 2008, the band is signed to Fearless Records. Their 2009 label debut, Dragon Spell reached No. 15 on the Top Heatseekers, meeting a great amount of positive acclaim upon its release in 2009. The following year, the group recorded and released their debut full-length album, Soundwave on April 30, 2010, which reached No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and 4 on Independent Albums. History Formation and Dragon Spell EP (2008–2009) Skynet was founded in 2008 by Malcolm Davidson (unclean vocals), Mike McBriar (clean vocals) Raylan Westbrook (lead guitar), Cal Michaels (rhythm guitar), Eric O'Brien (bass), Tyler Mace (drums), and Travis Darren (synthesizer, keyboards) who were high school classmates. The group recorded a few demos with the intention of releasing them as a self-titled EP. However, during 2009, the band was taken in with a contract by a new label, Fearless, due to them hearing some of the demos that the band posted online. McBriar stated "While we have an official record label now, we're still high school students before we are bandmates. We plan on getting our new music out to you as soon as we possibly can." The band set out to create an EP to be released through the label wherein it was titled Dragon Spell and was recorded and produced by band member Travis Darren. It was released in 2009, where it reached No. 15 on the Billboard Heatseeker chart. In regards to the creation of the EP, Davidson stated that Skynet all "feed off of each other really well, we take a little bit of everything we like and put it together to try and give the listener at least something to grasp onto when they hear a song for the first time. We consider ourselves a metal band who enjoy singing a lot. As much as we love being brutal, we love being referred to as ‘epic’ and ‘beautiful’. It works for us.” After the release of their EP, the band went on a small summer tour supporting Alesana, A Skylit Drive and Silverstein. Skynet's single "Hyperion" from Dragon Spell was hugely successful, leading the song to be featured in the popular Tap Tap series as well as it being featured as downloadable content in the Rock Band series of music games. The track is also featured on the 2009 Vans Warped Tour Compilation and later went onto being credited as the group's signature song. "Metal-hardcore act Skynet have finally unveiled the video for 'Hyperion.' 'We couldn't be happier,' guitarist Raylan Westbrook told Noisecreep on the finished look of the band's first video. For the heavy driven track from the group's Dragon Spell EP, the obvious choice was to bring eyes and ears to their live show - which has been getting the band quick success for only being a little over a year old. "Our live performance has become a staple of that growth," commented Westbrook. Rather than having the song play over a performance at the Glasshouse in Pomona, Calif., a full effect approach was taken. 'Our director had the idea of filming the set and intertwining live audio to spice up the clip.'" ''Soundwave'' and departure of Mike McBriar (2009–2012) In January 2010, the band entered the studio in Washington, DC, with Andrew Wade to record their debut full-length album, Soundwave. Harsh vocalist Malcolm Davidson noted that "We wanted to step it up in every aspect of our songs compared to Dragon Spell. When we're heavy, it's heavier. When we do things big, they are huge! When we slow it down, it's something beautiful." By March, Soundwave was fully mastered and engineered. On March 23, 2010, the band premiered their first single from the album, "Ascension" as streaming media online. The following day, Fearless Records released their 2010 Pre-Summer Sampler which also featured the track "Ascension". A week later, the album's album art and track listing was released. Guitarist Raylan Westbrook explained upon this premiere that "We all felt like that was going to be the best choice considering how comfortable the recording process is with Andrew. The tracking was a lot of fun and everyone had a good time." Westbrook later followed along explaining that his favorite track on the record is "Shadow King", which was written by him and Michaels and stated that he "wrote this song with an 'Egyptian feel' to it and I think we got our point across." McBriar described that its lyrics describe the times of when Skynet overcame their hardships that they face with the help and support from their fans. "Shadow King" was released as the album's second single on April 10, 2010. It premiered on the official Revolver website. Upon Soundwave's release on April 30, it charted at No. 12on the ''Billboard'' 200. The band is featured in the compilation album Punk Goes Pop 3, covering the Kanye West song "Mercy". It was also announced that Skynet would be one of the bands featured on Vans Warped Tour 2010 on the Skullcandy stage. 2011 was a dormant year for the band as they one again focused mainly on school. They played several festivals during holidays and even headlined a tour in the summer. At the beginning of 2012, clean vocalist Mike McBriar departed from the band, citing personal reasons for his departure. It was later revealed that he left the band in order to connect more with God and focus more on his new band, Jupiter's Halo. As a result, Skynet moved lead guitarist Raylan Westbrook up to perform all clean vocal duties. ''The Arsonist'' (2012–2015) Skynet announced in early 2012 that they would be completing their second studio album soon. It was revealed a week later that it would be titled The Arsonist and was set for release in June. ''Mariana Trench'' (2015–2018) ''Periphery'' (2018–present) Band members Current members *Malcolm Davidson — unclean vocals (2008–present) *Raylan Westbrook — lead guitar (2008–present), clean vocals (2012–present) *Cal Michaels — rhythm guitar (2008–present) *Eric O'Brien — bass (2008–present) *Tyler Mace — drums (2008–present) *Travis Darren - synthesizers, keyboards, programming, production (2008–present) Former members *Mike McBriar — clean vocals (2008-2012) Timeline ImageSize = width:800 height:230 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2008 till:12/31/2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass_guitar id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Drums value:purple legend:Drums,_percussion id:Cleans value:red legend:Clean_vocals id:Uncleans value:yellow legend:Unclean_vocals id:Vocals value:orange legend:Clean/Unclean_vocals id:Keys value:pink legend:Synthesizer,_keyboards id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_albums id:bars value:gray(0.93) Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom BackgroundColors = bars:bars ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2008 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:2008 LineData = at:02/12/2009 color:black layer:back at:04/30/2010 color:black layer:back at:05/15/2012 color:black layer:back at:06/01/2015 color:black layer:back at:04/12/2018 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Davidson text:"Malcolm Davidson" bar:McBriar text:"Mike McBriar" bar:Westbrook text:"Raylan Westbrook" bar:Michaels text:"Cal Michaels" bar:O'Brien text:"Eric O'Brien" bar:Mace text:"Tyler Mace" bar:Darren text:"Travis Darren" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Davidson from:01/01/2008 till:end color:Uncleans bar:Davidson from:01/01/2011 till:01/01/2012 color:Cleans width:2.5 bar:McBriar from:01/01/2008 till:01/01/2012 color:Cleans bar:McBriar from:01/01/2011 till:01/01/2012 color:Uncleans width:2.5 bar:Westbrook from:01/01/2008 till:end color:Guitar bar:Westbrook from:01/01/2008 till:01/01/2012 color:Vocals width:2.5 bar:Westbrook from:01/01/2012 till:end color:Cleans width:2.5 bar:Michaels from:01/01/2008 till:end color:Guitar bar:O'Brien from:01/01/2008 till:end color:Bass bar:Mace from:01/01/2008 till:end color:Drums bar:Darren from:01/01/2008 till:end color:Keys Discography ;Studio albums *''Soundwave'' (Fearless, 2010) *''The Arsonist'' (Fearless, 2012) *''Mariana Trench'' (Fearless, 2015) *''Periphery'' (Fearless, 2018) ;EPs *''Dragon Spell'' (Fearless, 2009) Category:Bands